Containers



April 3, 1965 D. s. BOWMAN 3,178,017

CONTAINERS Filed Jan. 24, 1963 5 DfiNALD 5 a Attorneys United States Patent Oii ice 3,l78,hi? Patented Apr. 13, 1965 3,178,617 EONTAINERS Donmd Bruce Bowman, Pinner, England, asslgnor to The Metal Box Company Limited, London, Engiand, a British company Filed Jan. 24, 1963, Ser. No. 253,595

(Ilaims priority, application Great Britain, Fen. l6, 19b2,

6,155/62 4 Claims. (Cl. 206-4534) This invention relates to containers and in particular to a container made of cardboard or like material and which, in use, has an open top through which access can be had to the contents thereof.

Containers of the kind above mentioned are often used to contain confectionery such as sweets, jam tarts, or cakes and are usually for purposes of storage and trans port enclosed in a wrapper of flexible material which pro tects the contents against contamination by dirt and dust and prevents the contents from being spilled or pilfered from the container.

The wrapping material is usually of a kind that is relatively costly and accordingly adds considerably to the cost of packaging and it is a main object of the present invention so to construct a container of the said kind as to alford there-for the same protection for the opening of the container as previously but by the use of a much lesser quantity of the protective wrapping material thus reduc ing the cost of the container.

According to the invention there is provided a container made of cardboard or like material comprising side walls hingedly connected to and set-up from a bottom, a single top flap hinged to the top of each side, said top iiaps being folded into non-overlapping relation to overlie the bottom, an opening which partially exposes the interior of the container, the hinge connections be tween the top flaps and the side walls being such that the top flaps have a tendency to swing outwards away from the bottom, and a sheet of flexible material adhered to the exterior faces of the folded top flaps and tensioned across said opening by pressure exerted on the sheet by swinging of the top flaps away from the bottom.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention the top flaps form mitre joints at the corners of the container. Also in a preferred embodiment of the invention the hexible material is transparent or translucent and may be a synthetic thermoplastic material heat-sealed to the top flaps.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood one embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates a blank for a container according to the invention,

FEGURE 2 illustrates the blank of FIGURE 1 in the set-up condition thereof, and

FIGURE 3 illustrates the completed container.

Referring to the drawings, the blank, FIGURE 1, is made of cardboard or similar material and comprises a bottom 1 having side walls 2, 3, 4 and 5 hlngedly connected thereto, as by creases, in the usual manner.

Corner portions 5, of known form, are hinged to the ends of the side walls and are provided with creases '7 about which they are folded when the blank is set-up. The side walls respectively have top flaps 8, 9, 10, 11 hinged thereto.

The blank is set-up as illustrated in FIGURE 2 with the corner portions 6 folded about the creases 7 and secured at 12 to the side walls to retain the blank in the set-up condition. The top iiaps 8, 9, 16 and 11 are folded about their hinge connections with the side walls to overlie the bottom 1 but the creases forming the hinge connections for the top flaps are not fully broken and as a consequence the flaps have a strong tendency to swing away from the bottom. As shown in drawings, the top flaps have sloping ends 13 which when the flaps are folded over the bottom as shown in FIGURE 3 cause the flaps to form mitred joints at the corners of the box. The width W of the flaps is such that when the flaps are folded to overlie the bottom 1 they forman opening which partially exposes the interior of the container.

The opening is covered by a sheet 14 of flexible material, FIGURE 3, for example transparent or translucent material, which is adhered to the exterior faces of the top flaps and is tensioned across the opening by pressure exerted on the sheet 1eby swinging of the flaps away from the bottom 1 of the container. In a preferred embodiment of the invention the sheet 14 is made of a transparent synthetic thermoplastic material such as that sold under the registered trademark Metathene and is heatscalcd to the top flaps. During the sealing of the sheet 14 to the top flaps the flaps press the sheet against the sealing tool and on removal of the tool the flaps swing away from the bottom 1 of the container and thus tension the sheet across the opening. The area of the sheet 14 is substantially equal to that of the top of the container and as the sheet is not folded about the sides and bottom a of the container it will be understood that there is a considerable saving of material as compared with the known forms of container which are completely enclosed in a wrapper of transparent or other flexible material, for example laminated materials such as paper-polyethylene, foil! polyethylene, or film/polyethylene.

The container as illustrated in FIGURE 3 is of pleasing appearance and can be readily opened by tearing the sheet 14- from the top flaps. Further, because the sheet 14 is adhered to the top flaps the opening is completely sealed against the ingress of dust or dirt.

It is to be understood that, if desired, the flexible sheet 14- may be opaque, for example the sheet may consist of a flexible board, a metal foil, or a laminated material such as paper/polyethylene, or foil/ polyethylene.

I claim:

1. A container made of cardboard or like material, comprising a bottom, side walls hingedly connected to and set up from the bottom, a planar top flap hinged to the top of each side wall, all of said top flaps being su stantially mined and folded inwardly into non-overlapping relation overlying the bottom and forming an opening which partially exposes the interior of the container, the hinge connections between the top flaps and the side walls being such that the top flaps have a tendency to swing outwardly away from the bottom, and a sheet or flexible material having substantially the same area as said bottom completely covering and adhered to the ex- 1 f1 terior face's of the folded top flaps, said sheet being tensione'd across' said opening'by pressures in the directions of the periphery of the sheet exerted by swinging .of the top flaps away from the bottom.

2. A container according to claim 1 wherein the flexible material is transparent.

3. A container according to claim 1 wherein the flexible material is translucent.

' 4. A container according to claim 2 wherein the flexible material is a synthetic thermoplastic material heatsealed to the top flap-s.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Kaplan Mar. 2, Brunt et a1. Feb. 1, Koch et a1. Nov. 29, Hoag June 6, Moore Apr. 30, Keith Feb. 19,

FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Dec. 7, 

1. A CONTAINER MADE OF CARBOARD OR LIKE MATERIAL, COMPRISING A BOTTOM, SIDE WALLS HINGEDLY CONNECTED TO AND SET UP FROM THE BOTTOM, A PLANAR TOP FLAP HINGED TO THE TOP OF EACH SIDE WALL, ALL OF SAID TOP FLAP BEING SUBSTANTIALLY MITRED AND FOLDED INWARDLY INTO NON-OVERLAPPING RELATION OVERLYING THE BOTTOM AND FORMING AN OPENING WHICH PARTIALLY EXPOSES THE INTERIOR OF THE CONTAINER, THE HINGE CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THE TOP FLAPS AND THE SIDE WALLS BEING SUCH THAT THE TOP FLAPS HAVE A TENDENCY TO SWING OUTWARDLY AWAY FROM THE BOTTOM, AND A SHEET OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME AREA AS SAID BOTTOM COMPLETELY COVERING AND ADHERED TO THE EXTERIOR FACES OF THE FOLDED TOP FLAPS, SAID SHEET BEING TENSIONED ACROSS SAID OPENING BY PRESSURES IN THE DIRECTIONS OF THE PERIPHERY OF THE SHEET EXERTED BY SWINGING OF THE TOP FLAPS AWAY FROM THE BOTTOM. 